Valentine's Day Date...is Battleship??

Have you ever played Battleship? Growing up, my older brother & I had a Battleship set that we used until it no longer functioned. It kept us occupied with strategizing, planning, adapting, and perservering for countless hours.

The normal board is a 10 by 10 grid. Along one side were letters & the other side was numbers. You had 5 ships of different lengths that you would hide around your board. (There's usually an upright portion in the middle so the other player cannot see your side & where your ships are located.) You could place them vertically or horizontally, but the pieces wouldn't fit diagonally.

Then, you would start to find where your opponent's ships were hidden by aiming at a specific location on their board. "I fire at A4," you could say. In response, they would have to say, "Hit," or "Miss." There were little plastic pieces that you would place in that square; white for miss, red for hit. The game kept going until you'd sunk all of your opponent's ships.

However, ours had sound effects! And lights! You would plug in the location you were aiming at with buttons at the bottom of the board. It would play a series of sound effects based on whether or not you "hit" something in the water.

This is the version we had. I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me after finding the exact set we had. I remember pulling up the grid on the base & pouring the little white and red markers into the storage component. The ships went in the gray covered bin towards the center.

But my wife and I are doing a more... culinary version. We are getting a few sushi rolls or nigiri options, swapping them, and then "firing" at each other's delicacies! And when one of us "hits" the ships, we get to eat our own sushi options. That way, my wife can enjoy shrimp and I can eat all of the inarizushi that I want.

The plan is to use some cardboard to create the four 10 by 10 grids that are necessary to play the game. The grids that have the sushi will be protected by seran wrap or cling film, so that the sushi stays clean. We'll have small bowls with some sauce for dipping and a teapot filled with either sencha or hojicha at the ready to cleanse our palette for further mission successes.

We're trying to have a monthly 'picnic' date, but lately it's been just above freezing. So, instead, we're having an 'indoor picnic'... this time with quite a few sillier parts.

I will report back with further details! I salute you!